Many existing gaming machines include a primary or base game and one or more bonus games, rounds, or features wherein the bonus feature is initiated when the player reaches a bonus triggering event in the primary game of the gaming device. These bonus rounds provide players with additional opportunities to accumulate winnings and are beneficial for attracting and keeping players at gaming machines.
In slot machines with reels, the bonus triggering event usually occurs when the player reaches a predetermined combination of symbols on the reels or when a specified bonusing symbol is displayed on one or more reels. The bonus triggering combination may be the same or different from the predetermined combination that defines whether the player has won the primary game. Regardless, the same reels are used to indicate both whether the underlying game has been won and whether the player will advance to a bonus round. Thus, the bonus triggering event is not separate from the underlying game.
Existing patents describe a variety of bonus games. These bonus games, however, are almost invariably triggered and indicated by some event occurring in the primary game, not by a secondary indicia that serves the sole function of indicating that a player will go on to a bonus round. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,033,307, 6,089,976, 6,461,241, 6,471,208, 6,517,433, 6,533,273, 5,823,874, 5,848,932, and 5,722,891 all describe bonus games that are triggered by a qualifying event in the primary game.
Other prior art gaming machines do involve the use of two different games but, in those inventions, the secondary games serve a different purpose and have a different functionality than the bonus indicator of the present invention. Thus, those secondary games are not used to indicate whether the player goes on to a bonus round, do not operate simultaneously with the primary game, and/or do not produce an outcome that is independent of the primary game. U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,057 describes a primary poker game linked to a secondary bingo game; however, the primary and secondary games do not operate simultaneously, are not independent of one another, and the secondary game is not used to indicate to the player whether she gets to go on to a bonus round. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,384 describes a primary game linked to a secondary game which is played over multiple rounds; again, the primary and secondary games do not operate simultaneously, are not independent of one another, and the secondary game is not used to indicate to the player whether she gets to go on to a bonus round. U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,506 describes an “odds indicator” that rotates simultaneously with the primary game. However, the sole purpose of this odds indicator is to provide a multiplier should there be a win in the underlying game; the odds indicator does not indicate that the player gets to play a bonus round.
There are many advantages to having a separate, but simultaneously operating, bonus indicator. The presence of a bonus indicator that is separate from the primary game creates the appearance of an increased chance of winning. Such a bonus indicator is therefore expected to increase player understanding of when and how the bonus round is initiated and to increase player excitement and participation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gaming apparatus and method which include a separate but simultaneously operating bonus indicator.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a gaming apparatus and method in which a separate but simultaneously operating bonus indicator has an outcome that is substantially independent from the outcome achieved in the primary game.